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I hope none of you are planning to go to DC next week or be on the streets in your state capital or your town.
But if for some reason you are, I would ask you to reconsider.
I hope none of you are planning to go to DC next week or be on the streets in your state capital or your town.
But if for some reason you are, I would ask you to reconsider.
If youâre not familiar with the terms interactive escalation and mutual radicalization, please read this: https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1139361964084355072
And this:
Book sample for âMutual Radicalization:
How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremesâ at link. Also available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Radicalization-Groups-Nations-Extremes-ebook-dp-B07F7MSZF6/dp/B07F7MSZF6/ https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1139361971076313094
Book sample for âMutual Radicalization:
How Groups and Nations Drive Each Other to Extremesâ at link. Also available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Mutual-Radicalization-Groups-Nations-Extremes-ebook-dp-B07F7MSZF6/dp/B07F7MSZF6/ https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1139361971076313094
If youâre someone who likes research, check out Omar Wasowâs paper published just last year. Paper is open access. Thread: https://twitter.com/owasow/status/1265709670892580869
Violent protest isnât effective in creating the change you want. https://twitter.com/owasow/status/1265709690547126273
If you have a spouse and/or children, a decent job, and a home you own, thereâs more to lose and maybe youâd think twice anyway.
But perhaps you donât have a significant other, kids, property, or a job and think you have nothing to lose.
I would still ask you to consider:
- Is it worth your life?
- Is it worth going to prison for a few years or perhaps the rest of your life?
I would still ask you to consider:
- Is it worth your life?
- Is it worth going to prison for a few years or perhaps the rest of your life?
I think many people think that when things get out of hand they would know better. They would be the one to calm things down or they would bail.
Some people -are- those people.
Some people -are- those people.
But if youâve never been in an angry mob situation, you actually donât know what type of person you are.
And even if you do know you would want to do leave if things got violent, you may find yourself in a situation where you are simply canât.
And even if you do know you would want to do leave if things got violent, you may find yourself in a situation where you are simply canât.
People who were in DC last weekâprotesters and journalistsâreport being swept along by the crowd or being unable to head in the direction they wanted to go because of the crowding. https://twitter.com/JLeeQuinn/status/1347942077338890242
Iâve only been trapped in a peaceful crowd situation once and can attest to the fact that when you are surrounded by hundreds of people who are tightly packed in to a small space, there may be no way out.
If you can get out, it may take a very long time and you may end up somewhere you donât want to be.
During protests that devolved into riots last June, Boston shut down MBTA stations and bus service early and many protesters were stranded in neighborhoods far from home with no way to get back other than to walk. https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1268340619069607938
Secondhand I can report that while these types of situations are not safe in general, theyâre especially not safe if youâre not able-bodied and in good shape.
Someone I know who attended a lot of protests in Boston told me terrifying stories of having been nearly crushed. Had they and a friend not been able to hop over a police barrier at one protest, they might have suffered crush injuries from the surging crowd.
Rosie Boyland, a 34-year-old Trump supporter, reportedly died at the Capitol last week after falling and being trampled by the crowd. (Though there are conflicting reports on her cause of death.) https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-police-elections-7051411972c58cfbbf079876ce527ab4
People you know may tell you that now is exactly the time to be in the streets to express your outrage at one party or another or to protect your community from the evil others who are coming to do you harm.
Maybe theyâre selling you a song about how the rally/protest theyâre going to will absolutely be peaceful and family-friendly. Bring your kids! And your dog! 
While thereâs certainly a chance thatâs true, you have no way of knowing. All it would take would be one person in the crowd with a weapon or a small band of agitators and BOOM or law enforcement overreactionâa peaceful protest is suddenly a riot.
Maybe your friends are selling you romantic images of revolution or telling you that God is instructing you to be out there.
Maybe youâve prayed and you do think youâve heard from God. Maybe you have or maybe you havenât.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capitol-mob-11610311660
Archive: https://archive.vn/ajSnA
https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capitol-mob-11610311660
Archive: https://archive.vn/ajSnA
Be real with yourself.
Do you know how to fight?
Are you willing to take lives?
Are you willing to die (by violence, accident, or medical emergency)?
If you believe in a higher power, is this actually what they would want you to do?
Do you know how to fight?
Are you willing to take lives?
Are you willing to die (by violence, accident, or medical emergency)?
If you believe in a higher power, is this actually what they would want you to do?
Some additional questions: https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1287926546687197185
If you answered no to any of these questions, STAY HOME.
There may be some truth to what theyâre saying or what youâre reading or hearing online but itâs very likely that some of it is catastrophized and meant to draw you in through emotional manipulation. Some may be outright fabricated.
Are there going to be some mostly peaceful protests/rallies next week? Yes. But you can't predict which ones those will be.
Everyone seems to be on edge right now, including law enforcement. This is NOT a situation you want to be in the middle of.
Everyone seems to be on edge right now, including law enforcement. This is NOT a situation you want to be in the middle of.
If you answered no to any of the above questions but still have doubts:
call your therapist,
call your spiritual leader,
call any relative youâve historically gotten good advice from & who hasn't lost their minds since last week.
call your therapist,
call your spiritual leader,
call any relative youâve historically gotten good advice from & who hasn't lost their minds since last week.
Or call the most rational person you know. Iâm talking someone who is still rational this week, not someone who was rational before 1/5/21 and has since started talking about revolution.
If you donât presently have any of these people in your life then think of the most clear-headed person youâve known in the past or the most rational public figure you look up to. What would they advise?
But if after consideration you decide youâre going and you hit the streets next week anyway and you find yourself in the middle of a riot or violence breaks out between citizens and law enforcementâŠ
⊠and you hear a voice in your head asking you if you should do something stupid, illegal, or violent, shout NO to yourself and do your best to get the fuck out of there. Donât rationalize and go along with it.
Donât be like some of the folks at the Capitol who thought they shouldnât do X and did it anyway. We see how well that worked out for them. The FBI has opened 170 case files as of this press conference yesterday afternoon. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1349097114278748164
Still not convinced? Longer list of questions you should ask yourself: https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1287919610579374081
If youâre going to insist on going to a protest/rally, tell someone you trust where youâre going and when you hope to be home and check in with them later.
Write the number of a person who can bail you out if need be with a Sharpie on your arm or on a piece of paper in your shoe. You may be able to look up info on this process but it will depend on who the arresting authority is and where youâre processed.
With COVID & mass arrests you may just be cited & released but you canât assume that you will. You do not want to spend more time in a crowded situation with people who may not be wearing masks longer than you have to.
Carry extra masks in case you lose yours or to share.
Carry extra masks in case you lose yours or to share.
But really, just STAY HOME. If anything I wrote in this thread scares you, good, it should.
STAY. HOME.
STAY. HOME.
If you live in DC, expect Mayor Bowser to order another curfew. Stock up now and plan to stay home.
If you have an essential job or need to go out for medical care and canât stay home, check news reports for protest areas and try to avoid them. https://twitter.com/MikeyAsAService/status/1349539098927771650
If you have an essential job or need to go out for medical care and canât stay home, check news reports for protest areas and try to avoid them. https://twitter.com/MikeyAsAService/status/1349539098927771650
Forgot to add this thread I wrote in 2019 on why I donât go to protests to cover them or to attend. This wonât apply to anyone since part of why I donât go is due to my health but some of these types of protests/counterprotests just make things worse. https://twitter.com/keikoinboston/status/1168352079649345537
